[SOLVED] Is it worth upgrading to a whole new platform?

[JustKun]

Im currently stuck with a bottlenecking intel core i5 6402p (basically a 6400 with an extra 100mhz base and boost) and anytime I crank up any settings in-game, my gpu usage is rarely ever above 40% and my cpu usage is locked at 100%. My gpu is clearly being bottlenecked and I’m wondering: should I should upgrade to an i7 6700k, since it’s an easy swap, or should I get a new motherboard and get a newer ryzen cpu. Let me know what you guys think.

 

[Hellfire13]

If you are just gaming, then a 6700k or 7700k should be fine for a couple of years. They are still pretty good gaming chips.

 

[JustKun]

If you are just gaming, then a 6700k or 7700k should be fine for a couple of years. They are still pretty good gaming chips.

Thank you. I don’t have a z series board so should I just get a 6700 or 7700? And do you think I should trust used products? bc I could get a used 6700 for $150 or a used 7700 for $160.

 

[Karadjgne]

Usage isn't a measurement of how much of the cpu/gpu is being used, it's a measurement of how much resources the cpu has to use.

Just because the cpu is at 100% and gpu is at 40% doesn't automatically mean it's a bottleneck, which is a bogus thing anyways.

Cpu takes the game code and pre-renders a frame, placing everything, quantifying everything etc. It'll do this to the best of its ability according to clock speeds and IPC . Every frame completed in 1second is the fps limit. That gets sent to the gpu to add color and post processing affects and paint the picture on screen. It'll do that to its ability according to detail levels and resolution. The amount of times a frame is completed in 1 second is the fps you see on the counter.

Cpu cannot slow down or bottleneck a gpu or vice versa, both are independent and both work at 100%.

Usage is the amount of cores, threads, bandwidth, cache etc that the cpu is required to use to complete a frame, increasing usage doesn't mean you get more frames or can complete a frame faster, only means the cpu needs to use more to complete a frame.

If the cpu can complete 150fps, sends that to the gpu which at low can put 150fps on screen, raising the settings to ultra having little to no affect, the cpu isn't strong enough to do better. If changing to ultra and the fps tanks, the issue is with the gpu, it's not strong enough to maintain or finish rendering what the cpu can give it. Lowering settings will raise the fps onscreen, but cannot go higher than 150fps, since that's the cpu cap.

That said, the 6400 was a dog. Biggest mistake for an i5 since Broadwell. It was beaten generally by the i3-6100 in just about everything that wasn't @ 80% loads or better, like rendering or CC usage. Clock speeds were abysmal, even with boost.

If you can find an i7-6700 to i7-7700k cheap, it's the easiest upgrade by far. The most expensive route being a full platform swap, which will pretty much require cpu/mobo/ram as the 2133MHz you have now is next to useless for Ryzen performance and lackluster to the 2667 that 8th/9th gen use, unless you really want to fork over $600ish for a Z490 mobo and a 10th Gen cpu and it's ram.

Apart from is severely lackluster performance for an i5, what's killing your fps is the fact it's an i5. You are playing games optimized or demanding 5+ threads, as high as possibly 10-12 threads in some online high drop servers, and trying to skate through with 4 threads. An i7 will help, a lot, in those games, but at heart isn't any different IPC than the i5 you have now, so some single player games will see very little gains, most of that coming from boost speeds.

 

[JustKun]

Usage isn't a measurement of how much of the cpu/gpu is being used, it's a measurement of how much resources the cpu has to use.

Just because the cpu is at 100% and gpu is at 40% doesn't automatically mean it's a bottleneck, which is a bogus thing anyways.

Cpu takes the game code and pre-renders a frame, placing everything, quantifying everything etc. It'll do this to the best of its ability according to clock speeds and IPC . Every frame completed in 1second is the fps limit. That gets sent to the gpu to add color and post processing affects and paint the picture on screen. It'll do that to its ability according to detail levels and resolution. The amount of times a frame is completed in 1 second is the fps you see on the counter.

Cpu cannot slow down or bottleneck a gpu or vice versa, both are independent and both work at 100%.

Usage is the amount of cores, threads, bandwidth, cache etc that the cpu is required to use to complete a frame, increasing usage doesn't mean you get more frames or can complete a frame faster, only means the cpu needs to use more to complete a frame.

If the cpu can complete 150fps, sends that to the gpu which at low can put 150fps on screen, raising the settings to ultra having little to no affect, the cpu isn't strong enough to do better. If changing to ultra and the fps tanks, the issue is with the gpu, it's not strong enough to maintain or finish rendering what the cpu can give it. Lowering settings will raise the fps onscreen, but cannot go higher than 150fps, since that's the cpu cap.

That said, the 6400 was a dog. Biggest mistake for an i5 since Broadwell. It was beaten generally by the i3-6100 in just about everything that wasn't @ 80% loads or better, like rendering or CC usage. Clock speeds were abysmal, even with boost.

If you can find an i7-6700 to i7-7700k cheap, it's the easiest upgrade by far. The most expensive route being a full platform swap, which will pretty much require cpu/mobo/ram as the 2133MHz you have now is next to useless for Ryzen performance and lackluster to the 2667 that 8th/9th gen use, unless you really want to fork over $600ish for a Z490 mobo and a 10th Gen cpu and it's ram.

Apart from is severely lackluster performance for an i5, what's killing your fps is the fact it's an i5. You are playing games optimized or demanding 5+ threads, as high as possibly 10-12 threads in some online high drop servers, and trying to skate through with 4 threads. An i7 will help, a lot, in those games, but at heart isn't any different IPC than the i5 you have now, so some single player games will see very little gains, most of that coming from boost speeds.

Should I get a used i7 7700 on ebay?

 

[Karadjgne]

Sure, I got my 3770k from ebay 7 years ago, still working fine. Just be careful of pricing and shipping location, a cpu coming from China might take a month to get here. Pricing right now is nuts everywhere as ppl ran stock out and shipping was almost non-existant, so don't over-pay, sellers are gouging the eyeballs out of everything and anything pc related. If you can wait a few weeks, I would.

 

[JustKun]

Sure, I got my 3770k from ebay 7 years ago, still working fine. Just be careful of pricing and shipping location, a cpu coming from China might take a month to get here. Pricing right now is nuts everywhere as ppl ran stock out and shipping was almost non-existant, so don't over-pay, sellers are gouging the eyeballs out of everything and anything pc related. If you can wait a few weeks, I would.

Alright I’ll wait and see what happens. Thanks!

 

[Hellfire13]

Thank you. I don’t have a z series board so should I just get a 6700 or 7700? And do you think I should trust used products? bc I could get a used 6700 for $150 or a used 7700 for $160.

Get whichever of those i7s you can get your hands on. Either of them can boost your performance fine due to the extra threads. But as mentioned above, be careful of how much you are paying for it. Covid situation aside, these days it doesn't cost you much to set up an 8 threaded platform.
Ebay could be a bit tricky at times, unless you are sure of what you are dealing with. You can also check out the local used market as sometimes you can find some good deals there.